My Heart Is Not Asleep
Thomas A. Thomas weaves a poignant collection of poems that explore love, loss, and resilience through the lens of caring for his wife with Alzheimer’s.
About
Crafting Words And Images
Thomas A. Thomas is an award-winning poet and photographer based in the Pacific Northwest. With roots in Illinois and training from the University of Michigan, he has earned recognition for his compelling poetry and evocative photography. His works appear in prominent journals and anthologies across multiple languages. He currently serves on the board of the Olympia Poetry Network and remains active in creative communities. His latest collection, inspired by caring for his wife with Alzheimer’s, explores the depths of love and loss. Coming soon, from
Gallery
Visions of Beauty and Story
Explore the evocative photography of Thomas A. Thomas,
capturing nature’s moments and life’s intimate narratives.
More Praise For My Heart Is Not Asleep
What People Are Saying
A true kind of gift and medicine
What a blessing this book is: poems earned from the threshold of love and loss, attuned to music, drenched in gorgeous imagery, and with the steady cadence of a voice willing to stay with pain and revelation. Thomas reminds us that grief and beauty are inexorable, and that patient attunement and intimacy with beauty is a path that can carry us through.
— Anne Haven McDonnell, author of Breath on a Coal
I felt like I was kayaking with the poet
What a poignant pleasure it is to read My Heart Is Not Asleep, bittersweet as many of Thomas’s subjects are. I felt like I was kayaking with the poet, walking the beach with him, taking in all the natural wonders that offer him consolation on a daily basis. Thomas has captured the anguish of ambiguous loss— the endless ebbing that is dementia—but he has also captured the intimate connection that is still there for so long; and that love that never ends.
— Ann Hedreen, author of Her Beautiful Brain
Beautiful and powerful, sometimes overwhelming
Thomas Thomas’s tender poems of love and grief are beautiful and powerful, sometimes overwhelming the reader with their unabashed emotion: “I know, I know, I know everything loved is to be lost / and scattered; and yet the daily lesson drums / in the blood beneath my skin.” Thomas’s well-crafted poems lament the shortness of life while celebrating memory’s power to keep the past alive.
— Michael Simms, author of Strange Meadowlark
Thomas A. Thomas 